Machine for opening cotton bales

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR OPENING A PLURALITY OF BASE INCLUDING AN ALIGNED FIRST SERIES OF CONVEYOR BELTS ADAPTED TO RECIPROCATE IN THE ALIGNED DIRECTION IN SUCH TIMED SEQUENCE THAT THE LAST BELT IN THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT IS THE FIRST BELT TO MOVE IN THAT DIRECTION, OPENING MEANS DISPOSED BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF SAID BELTS ADAPTED TO PICK MATERIAL FROM THE BOTTOMS BALES DISPOSED ON SAID BELTS DURING RECIPROCATION, AND CONTROL MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE DOWNSTREAM MOST CONVEYOR   BELT AND BALE CARRIED THEREBY WHICH CONTROL MEANS, UPON COMPLETION OF THE OPENING OF THE DOWNSTREAM MOST BALE, IS ADAPTED TO CAUSE THE REMAINING BALES TO MOVE DOWNSTREAM BY ONE CONVEYOR BELT LENGTH AND ADAPTED TO CAUSE AN ADDITIONAL BALE TO BE POSITIONED ON THE UPSTREAM MOST CONVEYOR BELT.

nited States Patent ['19] J eanmaire [11] 3,820,197 June 28, 1974 MACHINE FOR OPENING COTTON BALES [76] Inventor: Walter Jeanmaire, Fabrikstr. 17,

809 Kollnau, Germany [22] Filed: Nov. 21, 1967 [21] App]. N0.: 684,833

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 21, 1967 Germany 32579 [52] US. Cl. 19/80 [51] Int. Cl D0lg 7/04 [58] Field of Search .j. 1 9/80, 81

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,208,106 9/1965 Leineweber, Jr. et a1. 19/80 3,381,341 5/1968 Platt et al. 19/80 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 946,333 1/1964 Great Britain 19/80 121,365 4/1958 U.S.S.R 19/80 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Saco-Lowell Bulletin, June, 1951 page 24.

Primary ExaminerDorsey Newton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Burgess, Dinklage &

Sprung [57] 7 ABSTRACT Apparatus for opening a plurality of bales including an aligned first series of conveyor belts adapted to reciprocate in the aligned direction in such timed sequence that the last belt in the direction of movement is the first belt to move in that direction; opening means disposed between a plurality of said belts adapted to pick material from the bottoms of bales disposed on said v belts during reciprocation; and control means operatively associated with the downstream most conveyor belt and bale carried thereby which control means, upon completion of the opening of the downstream most bale, is adapted to cause the remaining bales to move downstream by one conveyor belt length and adapted to cause an additional bale to be positioned on the upstream most conveyor belt.

1 Claim, 1 Drawing Figure BI! am 89 as B7 '55 55' a P v h 0 e3 82 1 M5 M4 M3 1 8M2 MI 512 I 05 6 s3 s2 04 F5 2 H 7/ Q 66 l D L PATENTEDJUHZB mm invenianlter eommuir@ MACHINE FOR OPENING COTTON BALES This invention relates to bale opening machines. It more particularly refers to automated bale opening machines.

lt is known to provide bale opening machinery and equipment having a plurality of conveying belts each of which carries a bale. In this equipment, the conveying belts reciprocate, generally as a unit, thus causing the bales to pass over the space between the belts. A picking means is located in this space which removes the cotton or other material from the bale as such passes thereover. This type of device is shown in British Pat. No. 1001228.

The object of the present invention is to automate the feed to such machines in order to prevent such from operating at times on different numbers of bales which is not only uneconomical but also, in particular, leads to an undesired lack of uniformity in the quantity of tufts delivered permit of time.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which will permit each bale to remain untethered for several hours previously, freed from their ties, to relax and adapt themselves to the climate in the room, thereby permitting easier picking of the contents thereof.

Other and additional objects of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of this entire specification including the claims and drawing hereof.

In accord with and fulfilling these objects, one aspect of this invention resides in improvements in the abovedescribed known apparatus wherein the plurality of conveyor belts are reciprocated sequentially in such manner that the conveyor belt which is most rearward in relation to each reciprocal movement is the first belt to move in that movement with the successively more forward belts initiating movement in a sequential fashion. A further improvement resides in the provision of a control means operatively associated with the downstream-most conveyor belt and with the bale thereon, which operates to advance the bales downstream by one conveyor belt length as the downstream-most bale becomes completely open. Further, this control means may cause an additional bale to be placed on the upstream-most conveyor belt so as to maintain continuous production and bale opening. I

This invention envisions the use of substantially any control means, such as for example a photoelectric device, a weighing device, a lever arm, etc. Of the many different devices which can be used and which are available to the art, a photoelectric means is preferred.

The forward movement of the conveyor belts of the machine preferably does not take place simultaneously but rather sequentially in such a manner that the conveyor belt which carries the bale conveyed the shortest distance is first moved, while the rearward movement commences at the conveyor belt on which the bale which has been conveyed the furthest lies.

The number of conveyor belts of this feeding device is substantially unlimited and may be selected in accordance with the existing conditions. If, for instance, the

for instance, 8 hours, then equipping the feeding device with eight conveyor belts located one behind the other will lead to the bales being relaxed and conditioned for 64 hours on the conveyor belts.

Understanding of this invention will be facilitated by reference to the accompanying drawing in which a single FIGURE is a schematic view of the apparatus of this invention.

Referring now to this drawing, there is shown A machine C for opening cotton bales having a plurality of conveyor belts F l F5 located one behind the other in the direction of conveyance with devices Al A4 for opening the bales being located between them. A cotton bale Bl B5 rests on each conveyor belts F l F5. The conveyor belts are driven in the manner that the bales Bl B5 are moved continuously back and forth in the direction indicated by the double-headed arrow P over the opening devices Al A4 in such a manner that the bales lie close' together. For this purpose, the drives of the conveyor belts F1 F5 are driven in such a manner that upon movement to the right the movement of the belt F5 starts earlier than that of the belt F4, the movement of the belt F4 starts earlier than that of the belt F3, etc., and that upon movement to the left the movement of each belt which is further to the right starts moving before the adjacent belt which is further to the left. During the back and forth movement, the bales are gradually opened from their bottom side by the devices Al A4. Of the bales Bl B5 worked on the machine C, the bale Bl which is located furthest to the right and, since it has been worked for the longest time, is broken down most, while the others are progressively less broken down the further to the left they lie. As soon as the bale B1 is completely opened, it must be replaced by a new bale B6 which is placed onto the machine C from the lefthand side and therefore comes against the bale B5. The cotton opened by the devices Al A4 drops onto a conveyor belt T which conveys the cotton tufts away in the direction indicated by the arrow Q. Such machines are in themselves known.

In accordance with the invention, the machine C is provided with a photocell Z which lies in the path of movement of the bales.

The photocell Z is so arranged that the beam of light associated with it is covered by the bale Bl which has been worked down to the greatest extent when the bales Bl B5 reach the extreme left position upon their forward and backward movement. The photocell Z is thus subjected to the beam of light only when the bale Bl has been completely opened. Furthermore, in front of the conveyor belt F5 there is arranged a device D which bears a plurality of conveyor belts G1 G5 lo cated one behind the other with one cotton bale B6 B10 each. In front of the first conveyor belt G6, as seen in the direction of conveyance R, there is arranged a lifting device H with a conveyor belt G6 which bears a bale B11. In front of this lift device H there is shown a cotton bale B12 which is still tied.

The photocell 2 lies in the circuit of the motor of the conveyor belt G1 in such a manner that the current for the motor is connected when the beam of light impinges upon the photocell Z. The motor then moves the conveyor belt G1 by a predetermined length in the direction indicated by the arrow R so that the bale B6 is brought onto the conveyor belt F5 of the machine C. At the same time or thereafter, the conveyor belts G2 G5 are driven for such a period of time that all bales 87 Q B10 are conveyedonto the next conveyor belt G1 4 G4 to the right. 7

in order to again bring a bale onto; the conveyor belt G5 which has thus become free,'the lifting device H is provided. The'bale B12 which is to bebroug'ht onto the lifting deviceis freed of its ties and then pushed, for instance, onto the conveyor-belt;G6of'thelifting device H while thelifting device H is inf-its lower pio sition;

After, the lifting device H has then been brought; for

instance,hydraulically into its upper position in whichthe conveyor belt G6 lies in'the' same plane as movement of the belt G5 and of the belt Q6 thedis rection indicated by thearrow R. Instead ofa lifting de vice, there may be provided, for instance,. a conveyor belt which conveys obliquely from the bottomup vto the the conveyor belt G5, the bale can be transported, by I heightof theconveyorbelt G5,"or else all or; some of the conveyor beltsGl-GS can be arranged in a planerising up to theconveyor belt F5 of themachine C.

V T he series of conveyor belts;G l-G5 can also 'f'zititend at right angle so that the bales are conveyed injl'ongitu I dinal directionby apart of the conveyor belts in transversedirection by another part.

The apparatus of the present invention isprovided with reciprocating means which are adapted to sequentiallyinitite reciprocation of the conveyor.belts,ipartic-. ularly the downstream conveyor belts, in .suchmanner that the rearward-most belt in the direction of each reciprocating movement is first to be moved. To that end, motors M l M 5, inclusive, are provided which operate at different time intervals on their respective con- What is claimed is& V

1; In a' bale opening apparatus compris'ing'aplurality a of aligned conveyor belts, a pluralityofrbale opening means disposedwbetween adjacent conveyor belts, means, for reciprocatingsaid conveyor belts whereby bales resting thereonare reciprocate'd in operative relation to said openingmeans in suchmanner as to open I [f1 said bales therewith; control means associatedwith the downstrearn -most; conveyor belt and bale thereon which, upon'sensing completion of the opening of said downstream-most bale, I causes the remaining bales to wherein each of said pare-opening, conveyor belts supports abale and wherein. saidicontrolxmeans; is opera tively connected to all of said pie-opening and bale" opening means-associated-conveyor beltsmd causes a:

bale on the downstream mostofsaid pre opening coneveyor belts to'be transferred to theupstream-most of said opening meansrassociatedconveyor belts, causes 7 the downstream movement ofba'lesonto the next suecessive'downstream most conveyor beltand causes a veyors so that. the rearward-mostzbelt in the, direction ofeach reciprocating movement is first to bemo ved.

These motors can move sequentially time-wise'invre-a sponseto suitable timing means such as a timer. a

fresh bale to be placed upon the downstream most preop'ening conveyor: belt: in an untied condition, said reciprocating means adapted to sequentially initiate reciprocation of said conveyor belts in such-manner" that ofeach reciprothe rearward-most belt in the direction eating movement is first to be moved;

* l i k ew v UNITED sums PATEN'L 0mm; 5 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. ,2Q,197 L Dated v June 28, 1974 Inventor(s) WALTER JEANMAIRE It is certified that error'appearsdn the aboye-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

5- ltem' [7&3 elete 17 809 imllmau Germany? and in lieu thereof M Keiinau/Schwarzwald German v Item {301 change "Nov. 21, 1967" L0 Noveer 25, 1966 Signed and sealed this 15th day of October 1974 (SEAL) Attest:

MCCOY M. GIBSON JR. 0. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer I Commissioner of Patents 

